Dynamic contrast-enhanced (“DCE”) magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) and dynamic susceptibility contrast (“DSC”) MRI typically use T1-weighted or T2*-weighted images to characterize tissue perfusion properties. Generally, DCE-MRI and DSC-MRI are carried out as two separate scans.
The T1-weighted and T2*-weighted images include contributions from various sources that can lead to inaccuracies in the quantitative perfusion maps computed based on the T1-weighted and T2*-weighted images.
Additional sources of error include those caused by variations in the B0 and B1 fields. These additional error sources can typically be removed (e.g., by shimming), but these correction processes generally require additional scans thereby lengthening the total scan time.
Additionally, DCE-MRI and DSC-MRI scans require multiple contrast injections to reduce errors from leakage, which can be hazardous for people with compromised renal function.
Thus, there remains a need for a perfusion imaging method that can provide the information available from DCE-MRI and DSC-MRI, but with a reduced total scan time as well as the required number of contrast injections.